This Article is From Sep 25, 2012

Militants strike Iraq security forces, kill eight

Baghdad: Militants launched a wave of attacks on security forces in Iraq on Tuesday, killing eight police officers and soldiers and wounding 11, security and medical officials said.

In Tarmiyah, north of the capital, militants attacked a police station with two car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles, killing one policeman and wounding two, an interior ministry official and a medical source said.

Farther north, gunmen attacked a police patrol in the village of Al-Mukhisa near the city of Baquba, killing one policeman and wounding three, a police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.

And a policeman was shot dead west of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on his way to work, police Captain Ahmed Khalaf said.

Gunmen also attacked a checkpoint in Zayouna in east Baghdad, killing two police and wounding three, the interior ministry official and a medical source said.

In Al-Amriyah in west Baghdad, gunmen killed army Brigadier General Saleh Hassan Fezaa, and others attacked a checkpoint in Al-Amil in the south of the capital, killing two soldiers and wounding three.

While insurgents opposed to the Baghdad government are regarded as weaker than in past years, they have shown they can strike at even the most highly secured sites in the country.

Targets in recent months have included a military base, the anti-terrorism directorate in Baghdad, a prison and an entrance to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where the Iraqi government is headquartered.

Violence in Iraq is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but deadly attacks are still carried out almost every day.

With the latest violence, at least 189 people have been killed and 688 wounded in attacks so far this month, according to a tally based on security and medical sources.
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